U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to the Middle East on Tuesday to ask Arab friends Egypt and Saudi Arabia to press for recognition of Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas to form a new Palestinian cabinet and pursue his agenda for negotiations with Israel, but the Islamist group said talks with the Jewish state would be a waste of time.The Palestinians face a looming financial crisis after Israel halted monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority. The United States and the European Union have also set political conditions for helping a government led by Hamas.But Egypt, which is the first stop on Rice's trip and which has good working relations with Hamas, will tell the secretary of state she should give Hamas more time and that cutting off aid to the Palestinians would be counterproductive.... http://news.yahoo.com

Kazakhstan's KNB security service has said five of its officers have been arrested over the murder of opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly. The KNB said the five were members of its elite Arystan combat division. Opposition groups have accused the government of involvement in the death of Mr Sarsenbaiuly, who was found shot dead by a roadside earlier this month. He was the second opposition politician to be found dead in mysterious circumstances in recent months. The KNB in a statement called the arrested men "werewolves in epaulettes", a term for corrupt security officials, according to the Reuters news agency. A sixth man, who was also arrested for organising the operation, was a former law enforcement officer, opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbai told the Associated Press. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4736230.stm

The governing council of Karbala province said Monday it was suspending contact with U.S. forces over the behavior of soldiers during a visit to the governor's office two days ago. The decision followed similar moves by leaders of Maysan and Basra provinces, which have frozen ties with British forces in southern Iraq. Karbala provincial spokesman Abdel Amir Hanoun complained that U.S. soldiers brought dogs inside the building when their commander visited provincial Gov. Aqeel al-Khazraji, considered an insult by the council. They also blocked roads leading to the governor's office, preventing council members and the governor from parking cars outside the building, Hanoun said. The governor instructed the council to suspend contacts until U.S. forces apologize, he said. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1641548

Buried in last week's $72.4 billion emergency supplemental appropriation bill for the war on terror is nearly half a billion dollars worth of military construction. The bulk of the $485 million requested will go "to fund various military construction projects to support U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to the supplemental. "The requested funds," the document goes on, "will provide force protection measures, enhanced airfield operations and safety, power distribution, water treatment and distribution infrastructure, operational facilities and improved logistics, and associated planning and design efforts." ...http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060220-015649-7679r

For 15 years, Metro police officer Charles R. Williams III was seen as a model officer, known for his mild manner and intelligent interrogation techniques.Five years ago, he was recognized by the head of the FBI for helping break up an international cocaine smuggling ring that netted more than 30 arrests from here to Mexico. That's why Williams' family and peers are struggling to understand the federal indictment announced last month, accusing Williams of shedding his role as one of Nashville's top vice officers by handcuffing a suspected drug dealer and stealing more than a pound of cocaine at gunpoint.Williams has denied the allegations, said his father, the Rev. Charles Williams Sr., pastor at the Roger Heights Baptist Church on Whites Creek Pike."He told me, 'I haven't done nothing, daddy. I've done nothing,' " said Williams Sr., 73. "And I believed him. And until somebody can show me something, I believe him."...http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060219/NEWS03/602190391

The 100-mph car chase ended in a blaze of gunfire at the Peace Arch, the graceful marble monument that straddles the U.S.-Canada border here and proclaims the two nations to be "Children of a Common Mother."As two murder suspects from California blew past the U.S. Customs station and raced north for the border, a deputy sheriff managed to ram their vehicle with his squad car, spinning it down an embankment and across a broad lawn between the two border stations before it came to a stop. The suspects fled on foot, and in the ensuing gunbattle one was wounded; in the end, they were captured.While the Jan. 24 episode was by far the most dramatic encounter between fugitives and law-enforcement officers at the border in recent months, the reaction on the Canadian side unfolded along a standard — if contentious — script: The Canadian border guards walked off their posts....http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002816947_border20.html